Dr. Mario

es in the playing field by aligning them with capsules of matching color. Dr. Mario is a falling block tile-matching video game. Mario assumes the role of a doctor, tossing two-colored medical capsules into a medicine bottle representing the playing field. This area is populated by viruses of three colorsred, yellow, and bluewhich stay in their starting positions until removed. In a style similar to Tetris, the player manipulates each capsule as it vertically falls, able to move it left or right and rotate it 90 degrees clockwise or counter-clockwise. When matching colors of capsule halves and viruses touch sequentially 4-in-a-row, they disappear. Any remaining half or whole capsules which are not supported will fall to the bottom of the playing field or until hitting another supported object, and any new 4-in-a-row alignments also disappear. The main objective is to eliminate all viruses from the playing field, finishing each level. A game over occurs if capsules fill the playing field in a way that obstructs the bottle's narrow neck. After each 5th level is completed on Medium or High difficulty, up to level 20, a cutscene shows the virus trio sitting on a tree as music plays and an object flies across the screen. The options screen configures the starting level, game speed, and music. The player chooses a starting level between 0 and 20 that determines the number of viruses to clear, and one of three speeds of the falling capsules. The player's score is based on the elimination of viruses and the chosen game speed, with bonus points for clearing more than 1 in a single line. ==Development==

Dr. Mario was produced by Gunpei Yokoi, creator of the Game Boy and Game & Watch handheld systems. This was re-released in Japan on 30 March 1997, as a downloadable game for the Super Famicom's Satellaview peripheral, with the name Dr. Mario BS Version. It was re-released again in Japan for the Super Famicom's and Game Boy's downloadable Nintendo Power cartridges. The NES version was ported twice to the Game Boy Advance: first in 2004 as one of thirty games in the Classic NES Series (Famicom Mini Series in Japan), then bundled with a version of the Puzzle League series in 2005 as Dr. Mario & Puzzle League, with updated graphics and new music. Nintendo Puzzle Collection and the Nintendo GameCube Preview Disc, both released in 2003 for the GameCube, can copy the NES version of Dr. Mario to the Game Boy Advance using the Nintendo GameCube – Game Boy Advance link cable. The NES version was released on the Wii U Virtual Console in 2014 and was one of the launch games for the Nintendo Classics service on September 19, 2018. The original Game Boy version was re-released on the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console in 2011 and 2012, and on the Nintendo Classics service on March 12, 2024. ==Reception==

Dr. Mario received generally positive reviews, although some parents were critical of the premise of medicine in a children's game. The Game Boy version received positive reviews from Joystick and Zero magazines, the latter comparing it favorably with Tetris and Connect Four while stating it is "easy to play and impossible to master". In the Japanese magazine Famicom Tsūshin, the four reviewers said that while the game is similar to Tetris, they still found it fun with one reviewer saying it was more fun to play as a two-player game. The same four reviewers also complimented the Game Boy version of the game, with one reviewer feeling that the game was slightly worse due to the lack of color on the Game Boy making it harder to decipher some gameplay elements. In Japan, copies were sold for the Game Boy, for the Famicom, and 248,045 for the Game Boy Advance, for a total of 3,858,045 cartridges sold in Japan. In North America, copies were sold within six weeks of release. Worldwide, copies were sold for the Game Boy and for the Nintendo Entertainment System, for a total of cartridges sold worldwide across all platforms. Retrospective reception Allgame praised the NES version, stating that on its release, "when puzzle games were flooding the market, Dr. Mario stands out as one of the best, combining a smooth learning curve, playful graphics and memorable tunes" and "fundamental concepts may be simple, but the addictive gameplay becomes progressively more complex as the speed increases and additional viruses are added." Dr. Mario was rated the 134th best game on a Nintendo system in Nintendo Powers Top 200 Games list, the 7th best Mario game of all time on ''ScrewAttack's Top 10, and the 51st best NES game of all time by IGN. IGN also rated the soundtrack, composed by Hirokazu Tanaka, as seventh in its list of the top ten greatest 8-bit soundtracks. GamesRadar ranked it the 13th best NES game ever made, calling it "one of the most celebrated of the [puzzle] genre". Game Informers Ben Reeves called it the seventh best Game Boy game. In 2019, PC Magazine'' included Dr. Mario on their "The 10 Best Game Boy Games". The Game Boy Advance re-release in the Classic NES Series is rated 66/100 on Metacritic based on 10 reviews. Craig Harris of IGN sarcastically expressed unease over the game's use of medicine. He enjoyed the addictive gameplay, but criticized the black-and-white manual which made it difficult to understand the colored gameplay mechanics. Henk Rogers of the Tetris Company spoke negatively about the game in an interview published in 2018, saying he "was pissed off about that game, Dr. Mario was a blatant attempt to come up with a Tetris replacement and I thought they did it in a cheesy way." Legacy After the commercial success of Dr. Mario, Nintendo released several follow-up games. Dr. Mario 64, released in 2001 for the Nintendo 64, features Wario and several Wario Land 3 characters, and offers numerous game modes, including a story-focused single-player mode. The game supports simultaneous multiplayer for up to four players. Dr. Mario 64 was subsequently released in Japan in Nintendo Puzzle Collection for the GameCube. Dr. Mario Online Rx, released in 2008 on WiiWare, offers online multiplayer via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. Dr. Mario Express, released in 2009 for the Nintendo DSi, does not support multiplayer gameplay. Dr. Luigi was released in 2013 for the Wii U, with Luigi as a playable character, all the modes in Dr. Mario Online Rx, and a new mode with L-shaped capsules. The latest installment, Dr. Mario: Miracle Cure, was released in 2015 for the Nintendo 3DS, and introduced power-ups to the series. Dr. Mario World was a mobile game that was released on 2019 for iOS and Android smart devices, and features new mechanics, such as brand new doctors with special abilities, assistants, and a gacha system. Dr. Mario World was discontinued in November 2021. Various games in the Super Smash Bros. series have remixed musical tracks from Dr. Mario, or Dr. Mario as an unlockable playable character. Dr. Wario replaces Mario with Wario, as an unlockable minigame in WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames!. A simplified version of Dr. Mario is in Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day! as the "Virus Buster" minigame, using the touch screen to drag the capsules around the playing field. The viruses are enemies in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga and Mario & Luigi: Dream Team. They change colors when attacked, and are all defeated when they are all the same color. In 2018, the Classic Tetris World Championship featured a Dr. Mario championship as a side event. ==References==